EBF and vacation without baby

I'm a FTM (first time mom) so I have no clue how feasible this is. My husband and I have a wedding to attend in September. LO (little one) will be apprx 5 months and my parents offered to babysit. I have awhile to build up a stash so I think I will be able to get enough milk for her while

I'm gone but if I bring my pump is it possible to keep up my supply while I'm gonna (3 days/3 nights). How often will I need to pump?

Comments (27)

every 2-3 hours aorund the clock. And that's assuming baby will eat from a bottle for them. Is it at ALL possible to bring your mom or something with you, and have her stay in the hotel room for the duration of the wedding ceremony and have you nurse the baby before/after? That would be better for you and baby.

Your supply won't dry up in 3 days, but if you don't pump on her normal feeding schedule, you will probably leak milk all over the place and ruin your clothes. LOL

every 2-3 hours aorund the clock. And that's assuming baby will eat from ...

Posted
05/14/2016

every 2-3 hours aorund the clock. And that's assuming baby will eat from a bottle for them. Is it at ALL possible to bring your mom or something with you, and have her stay in the hotel room for the duration of the wedding ceremony and have you nurse the baby before/after? That would be better for you and baby.

Your supply won't dry up in 3 days, but if you don't pump on her normal feeding schedule, you will probably leak milk all over the place and ruin your clothes. LOL

5 month olds don't eat every 2-3 hours still.

Op I think you're better off just making a stash for now and then playing it by ear. You'll know how much she's eating by then.

Op I think you're better off just making a stash for now and then playing it by ear. You'll know how much she's eating by then.

Just being your pump and pump as often as you're feeding her.

My 5 month old breastfed infants ate every 2-3 hours aorund the clock... well, actually, my nicu baby who was a 24 week preemie, nursed every 90 minutes around the clock until he weaned at christmas time when i was pregnant with my next one.

He is 2, and still wakes up to drink breastmilk 4-5x a night in his sippy cup.

In my experience, breastfed babies DO eat that often still in the 4-6 month range.

My 5 month old breastfed infants ate every 2-3 hours aorund the clock... well, actually, my nicu baby who was a 24 week preemie, nursed every 90 minutes around the clock until he weaned at christmas time when i was pregnant with my next one.

He is 2, and still wakes up to drink breastmilk 4-5x a night in his sippy cup.

In my experience, breastfed babies DO eat that often still in the 4-6 month range.

I've only nursed 4 babies though so.... :P

Your 2 year-old wakes up 5 times a night to drink breast milk? 😁

OP (original poster) in my experience your supply will be mostly established by then. Assuming baby is comfortable taking a bottle I think it would be ok. It may be harder on you emotionally than on you or baby physically.

OP in my experience your supply will be mostly established by then. Assuming baby is comfortable taking a bottle I think it would be ok. It may be harder on you emotionally than on you or baby physically.

Yes, I still pump for him, when he weaned, he used my freezer stash until I had fresh milk for him again. I had no intention of weaning him but he self-weaned during the pregnancy towards the end.

His developmental pediatrician wanted him on breastmilk until 3-4 years of age due to being so premature.... with out my milk he doesn't gain weight. He wasn't fond of my freezer stash (He likes it fresh) and it was a struggle to get him to drink frozen milk, so he didn't gain weight in the 4 months he was on frozen milk since 90% of the time he'd sip it and then we'd have to dump it out.

He chugs the fresh milk like there's no tomorrow though. LOL

(he also got back to back illnesses as soon as he weaned, when he'd been super healthy prior, as soon as he got back on fresh milk, he hasn't been sick, which is one of many reasons why his developmental pediatrician wanted him on breastmilk until his lung tissue was finished regrowing around age 4...) I nursed my daughter until a week before her third birthday, so providing milk to a 3 or 4 year old doesn't bother me. :P

I'm going through the same thing . We're going to Disney at end of September for ds (dear son) birthday. Original plan ( befor lo was born ) was to take lo with us. But she is a very colicky baby so my parents offers to watch her so that we all can enjoy disney. I'm going to just start building a stash now (for a good 10 feedings a day x 4 days). She may come if she calms down on the crying but right now plan is for her to stay while we're gone .

I left for Atlantic City with just me and dh (dear husband) when I had ds (dear son) . He was 6 months at the time I believe and I made a stash before I left. Then while u was there , I jus pumped at the feeding schedule that ds (dear son) was on at the time. The hotel fridge had milk galore stashed in it!

Oh, one last tip - if your baby won't take bottles, they may prefer a sippy cup, and at 4-5 months, you can introduce one.

(also, I said 2-3 hours *because that's how often mine still ate at that age*, but that's why at the end I said pump on the feeding schedule your baby's adjusted too.) One thing though, between 4-6 months, your baby may have 1-2 growth spurts which could throw off their normal eating schedule and confuse matters if you're trying to pump on their schedule.... and make sure your parents are aware of how to pace-feed a breastfed baby so they don't over feed it..

(kellymom.org has all the resources for bottlefeeding the breastfed baby if you want to do any print out for your parents to help in case they need a reminder on how to do things with a breastfed infant, since it's different then formula.)

OP in my experience your supply will be mostly established by then. Assuming baby is comfortable taking a bottle I think it would be ok. It may be harder on you emotionally than on you or baby physically.

Thanks! She takes a bottle now because she had to in the NICU and I give her one every few days. I am wondering how I will feel leaving her but good to know I can manage keeping up BF (breastfeed, or boyfriend) when I return!

Oh, one last tip - if your baby won't take bottles, they may prefer a sip...

Posted
05/14/2016

Oh, one last tip - if your baby won't take bottles, they may prefer a sippy cup, and at 4-5 months, you can introduce one.

(also, I said 2-3 hours *because that's how often mine still ate at that age*, but that's why at the end I said pump on the feeding schedule your baby's adjusted too.) One thing though, between 4-6 months, your baby may have 1-2 growth spurts which could throw off their normal eating schedule and confuse matters if you're trying to pump on their schedule.... and make sure your parents are aware of how to pace-feed a breastfed baby so they don't over feed it..

(kellymom.org has all the resources for bottlefeeding the breastfed baby if you want to do any print out for your parents to help in case they need a reminder on how to do things with a breastfed infant, since it's different then formula.)

Either way I hope you enjoy the wedding when you go!

Thanks for the info! I feel more confident now planning to leave her. She does take a bottle because she was in the NICU so I make sure she still remembers about once a week and give it to her. Good point about the paced bottle feeding- I will make sure my mom watches a video about that before.

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